Latest / The Start, Scale & Succeed Podcast / Why You Should Ignore Most of Your Business Books with Scott Ritzheimer (stages 1,2,3,4,5,6,7) - Ep. 428

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Why You Should Ignore Most of Your Business Books with Scott Ritzheimer (stages 1,2,3,4,5,6,7) - Ep. 428 · The Start, Scale & Succeed Podcast

• 0:00
  Scott Ritzheimer: Hello, hello, and welcome, welcome once again
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  to the Start, Scale, and Succeed podcast-the only podcast that
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  grows with you through all seven levels of your journey as a
• 0:10
  founder. I'm your host Scott Ritzheimer, and today I want to
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  start off with a stat for this solo episode, and that statistic
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  is that there is something like this is very very official.
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  There's something like a thousand business books being
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  published every single day, and many of them by really really
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  really smart people. But I think most of them are lying to you. I
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  don't think it's intentional. I really really don't. But I think
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  there's a problem that affects both founders and the people
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  that they look to for help. I think it's chronic. I think it's
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  everywhere, and I think the moment I show it to you, you
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  won't be able to unsee it, because we have more marketing
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  strategies, we have more leadership principles, we have
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  more organizational tactics than ever before, but I believe it's
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  actually harder than ever to succeed as a founder because of
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  all of those strategies, principles, and tactics. They're
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  massively overwhelming. They lead us to a whole pile of
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  shoulds all over the place, and I think that they're usually
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  meaning most of the time a distraction from what truly
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  matters most for you right now, and so this leads to two kind of
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  admitted pet peeves about the business book world, and this is
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  coming from someone who has now contributed to that, but it also
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  comes from a founder who, I mean, for years I remember just
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  trying to find an answer, and and you'll have experienced
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  this. I mean, how many of you have read a book that says this
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  is what the definition of leadership is? And then you see
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  another one, they say this is what the definition of
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  leadership is. It's not this is my definition of leadership.
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  It's not here's a potential definition of leadership. Every
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  book has the definition of leadership, and that's just the
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  start. When you look at kind of a fundamental structural problem
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  with books, just in the way that books go out, is that they are
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  they are fundamentally written to a specific group. I'll talk
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  about what that means in a second, but then they become
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  available to and are marketed to a very general group, a very
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  broad group. So let's take, for example, a very in the book
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  world, a very narrow niche of of book readers, and that is
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  founders of businesses and nonprofits. That's a very very
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  small percentage of the overall population. It's a very small
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  percentage of book readers at large. But what is one thing
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  that every founder needs to hear. I I don't know that that
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  exists, except that there's no one thing that every founder
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  needs to hear. And so what I'm getting at, and folks who listen
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  to or watch this show will know I'm really really big on
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  understanding the level that you're in as a founder. And for
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  those of you who are connected with our predictable success
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  materials as well, knowing what stage you're in as a as a
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  business, and I I just can't overstate how important those
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  are. And and here's the problem: if I'm really specific with it,
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  business books are written for a certain level, or they're
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  written for a certain stage, but then they're read by everyone in
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  all levels, and then everyone in all levels, to some extent, and
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  it varies from person to person and topic to topic, but that
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  leaves us as readers feeling like we're then responsible for
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  implementing what we read. I remember I'm going to forget it
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  now, but this idea that that you know information without action,
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  right? Information without transformation is just a waste
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  of time. I couldn't agree more if it's the right information at
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  the right time. But I think it's even worse to have information
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  and transformation try to apply that information if it's not
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  right for you right now, and fundamentally, just about every
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  single book is written for a stage or two.
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  It's written by an author trying to solve a problem, oftentimes
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  one that they've lived through themselves, either directly or
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  helping someone else through it, and it happens at a specific
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  point in a time in in in a specific industry or in a
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  specific business, and while there are lessons to be learned
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  from that, one of the biggest lessons is that's what happens
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  at that stage in that industry at that time. Just because
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  something worked doesn't mean it's a universal principle, and
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  so what we have to start. To do as readers is we start. We have
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  to, and I think this is more a reader thing than it is an
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  author thing. We have to start to discern who was this book
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  actually written to. Who does you know? If it's a business
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  book and it's written by a consultant or or a thought
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  leader or something like that, who are they working with
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  regularly? What level are they in? What specific problems are
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  they trying to solve, and how relevant are those to the level
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  that you're in? And so, the first thing we want to do is
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  identify: well, what level is this really written for? Because
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  the way that you engage in leadership when you're in level
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  two by yourself is very very different and requires a
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  different definition of leadership than how you engage
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  in leadership in level four, which is really all about
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  leadership. So the first thing we have to recognize is that
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  books aren't written for everyone all the time, and most
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  authors aren't necessarily really clear on which level
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  they're writing into. Even if they don't use my framework or
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  my methodology, they're not always clear on who exactly the
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  book is for. So that's the first one. We have to figure out what
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  stage they're written to, and and to kind of help you figure
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  this out, I have I've been collecting a list of books that
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  I really really like, and that I recommend to folks. And I was
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  realizing before I I kind of figured this whole thing out
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  that I would love to recommend some books to some people, but
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  not to others. And it wasn't for a long time that I finally
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  discovered I was actually doing the level thing intuitively. I
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  just couldn't quite articulate it, and so in the the show
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  notes, you'll see a link to this this lesson, or sorry, this
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  podcast. We're recording lessons as well. This podcast, and on
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  the page on our website that's dedicated to this podcast,
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  there's a list of my recommended reading for every single level.
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  That's really helpful for a couple reasons. One, if you're
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  in level one, there's all kinds of really great books for level
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  one. That at least great by my standard. But number two, if
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  you've read a book and you're wondering, hey, does this apply
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  to me? Should I really be, you know, doing the hard work of
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  putting this into action? Go there and at least see what I
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  think that that book is mostly written toward, because if it's
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  something like Jim Collins, who I love and adore and would love
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  to be one day, he's Jim's awesome, and his work is
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  amazing. But it's written for a very specific group of people,
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  and that might not be where you are right now, or another huge
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  influence in my life is Patrick Lencioni, or John Maxwell, or
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  John Kotter. These are really, really bright, really, really
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  great authors who've who've got really great works, especially
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  when you understand the level that they're written to, because
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  every single one of those has a default writing pattern and a
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  default writing destination, and again, that may or may not be
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  where you are. So that that's the the first big problem that I
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  have with with the business book system, the way that they're
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  written, the way that they're marketed, and the way that we
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  read and interpret and apply them. We have to take a much
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  more stage-based approach, and I say that it's simple, and to
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  some extent it is. But at least just asking the question, what
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  do I think this was written to? Because if it was written to a
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  stage in the past and would have been helpful for you five years
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  ago, you know it's not five years ago.
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  If it's written to a stage in the future and it would will be
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  helpful in five years, well, then you've got to do other
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  things to to create the framework and the foundation for
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  those things to work later. So really try and figure out is
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  this a book that's written to to our level and you know somewhat
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  shameless plug I guess there's a little shame in it, but the
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  Founders Game, which is coming out in February, Predictable
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  Success, which is behind me, even Rachel's-I've just totally
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  forgotten her last name. I'll put it in the show notes. But
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  Rachel wrote the Founders. I can't even remember the name of
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  the book. This is terrible. We'll put it in the the notes.
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  If you want a book that's not written by me that deals with
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  different stages, the Founder Survival Guide by Rachel
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  Something. She was on the podcast. I'll link that as well.
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  Is another brilliant example of someone who recognized the
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  timing of this and and applied it to a book and really helped
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  folks to recognize which even part of her book is relevant to
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  them, Rachel Turner is the name. So that's the first thing. The
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  second challenge with business books, in particular, I don't
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  find this in fiction anywhere near as much. But in business
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  books, especially for folks who write a lot, there's this
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  tendency to have to fit. Everything to the format of a
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  book, which is going to be somewhere in the 50,000 word
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  range for most books. And fifty thousand words is a lot of
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  words. Sometimes it's not a lot of words on other topics, but
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  for a lot of business concepts, you don't need fifty thousand
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  words to do them. But it's a total pain to write a book,
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  publish a book, promote a book, and make it a success and get it
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  in the hands of people and and allow it to change their life.
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  And so, if you're gonna take the time to do all of that, you're
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  probably going to take the time to fill those fifty thousand
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  words. Unfortunately, I've read books where about forty thousand
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  of the words were padding, and you know what I'm talking about.
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  You've read a book, you've read the first couple of chapters;
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  they were amazing, and then the rest of it's just filler. It's
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  just not great at all. And a big part of the reason that this
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  happens again is is just the structure of the book world. And
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  so, as founders, these two big problems, the they both result
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  in very very similar symptom, or I'll say a range of symptoms. So
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  I felt these, and I've seen them in a lot of the founders I've
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  worked with. So the first one is, I read the this book. There
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  was all these success stories. I applied it, and it didn't work
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  for me. Somehow I'm just different or fundamentally
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  flawed. That's the first thing, and that's very isolating. It's
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  very disheartening. It's it's discouraging. It's a real
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  challenge because you feel like, hey, if I don't know it and
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  these pros don't know it, what do I do? Maybe this is it. The
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  other challenge is how do you really wait and evaluate whether
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  it's content for a different stage or it's just fluff filling
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  the rest of a book, how do you sift the wheat from the chaff?
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  How do you how do you eat the fish and spit out the bones, if
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  you will? And so again, just where I'm trying to go with this
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  is that if we just take business books for the words on the page.
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  I think that makes our lives harder as founders, not easier.
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  But at the same token, we don't want to just live in isolation.
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  We can't ignore the rest of the world. It's not like these books
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  don't have a wealth and treasure trove of wisdom. I think we just
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  need to do a little bit more work to recognize when to apply
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  that wisdom and what wisdom to pursue and what to just let go
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  of for now. And so again, the best thing that I can do to to
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  help jumpstart the is one, just get you to ask the question:
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  Who's this written to, and does it match where I am right now?
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  That might mean you need to know where you are right now if you
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  don't know that already.
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  Most of you do, but if you don't, then you can just go to
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  foundersquiz.com and find out which level you're in. But find
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  out what level you think the book's written to, what level
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  you're in, and see if they match. If they do, great. Even
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  if it's challenging, you really will want to try to implement
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  what you see there. And some of it'll rub you the wrong way
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  because it's just new territory, and that's okay. If it's not,
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  you may not want to read the book just now, even if it's
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  great. And if you do, you just have to read it through the lens
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  of this is going to serve me well someday. I'll pick it up
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  back again then. And if you can do that, that's fantastic. What
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  you don't want to do is read something from level five, try
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  and apply it to level three, and think that you're going to scale
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  magically doesn't work that way. If you're in level three, you
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  need level three books. If you're in level three, you need
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  level three strategies. If you're in level three, you need
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  level three tactics, and there's there's plenty of resources to
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  do that, even in level three, which is one of the least served
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  by the business book world. So, ask yourself what level it's
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  written to, what level you're in. Do they match? And then,
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  when you find yourself getting into a book and it's the right
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  level, and you get through the first few chapters, and the rest
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  is just filler, put it down. Like there's no moral imperative
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  that you finish the book, and and hopefully that that gives
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  you some freedom because again a lot of the founders I work with
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  are folks who really want to learn like they really want to
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  do it right they really want to lead their people well and we
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  trust that these books are are right and they might be right
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  they're just not always right for right now in fact most of
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  the time they aren't. Then in terms of tactics that you can
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  take and run with, so the first one is check out the reading
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  list. There's lots of great books in there, lots of great
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  books for your level, and there might be a couple in there you
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  haven't read yet. So that'll be really cool. Check out the
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  reading list, and you might find there were some books that you
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  picked up in the past that weren't all that helpful, but
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  now you're actually in the level they were written to. And if you
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  read them again, you might learn just a whole new range of skills
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  and and wisdom. So check out the reading list. The other thing
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  I'd encourage you to do is to go ahead and get a a copy of the
• 14:52
  Founders Game. The pre-order is open right now. There's lots of
• 14:56
  goodies if you pre-order on Amazon and then upload your
• 14:59
  receipt. You'll get a free course and free workbook and all
• 15:02
  kinds of stuff. But what you'll get right now as well is the the
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  excerpt from the book that outlines what all seven levels
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  are in just one real simple, concise way. If you're
• 15:13
  interested, it's got my story in there as well. A lot of stuff I
• 15:16
  haven't shared here on the podcast, so maybe that will
• 15:19
  interest you. That's right in that first free chapter, which
• 15:21
  you'll get immediately, and so you can do that. If you don't
• 15:24
  want to do the pre-order, you can still get the first chapter
• 15:26
  for free on the same page. It's all at thefoundersgame.com.
• 15:31
  We'll put those links in the show notes. So lots of links in
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  the show notes today. Make sure you check out Rachel and and her
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  book, The Founder Survival Guide. It's fantastic. I really
• 15:42
  like that book. And check out her episode. She was on the show
• 15:46
  back in the first hundred somewhere, I think. Check out
• 15:49
  thefoundersgame.com. Get a copy of the book on pre-order right
• 15:52
  now from Amazon, and then get the first chapter for free and
• 15:54
  some other goodies with it. And then check out the reading list.
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  I think you'll really enjoy it. If you've got some books that
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  you think should be on the reading list, and you have a
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  guess at which level they should be. Let me know.
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  I'd love to make that a community thing and add to it.
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  So, if you've got a book for founders that isn't on the list,
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  and you think that it should be, and you've got an idea on which
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  level it's best for, send it my way. I'd love to out it, and
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  we'll build it all together. With that, hope this was helpful
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  for you. When you're reading books, you don't have to do
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  everything in them. You get to choose and decide, and
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  hopefully, you can do that a little bit better after this
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  episode. With all that, can't wait to see you next time, and
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  I'll catch you there. Take care. Hey everyone, Scott Ritzheimer
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  here. Thank you so much for listening to the Start Scale and
• 16:45
  Succeed podcast. I hope this episode gave you exactly what
• 16:49
  you need for the level you're in right now. If you want to
• 16:52
  discover what level you're in, take our ten question Founders
• 16:56
  Evolution Quiz for free at foundersquiz.com. That's
• 17:00
  foundersquiz.com. It'll pinpoint exactly where you are and give
• 17:04
  you tailored tips to move forward and reach that next
• 17:08
  level in your journey as a founder. If you got something
• 17:11
  out of today's episode, don't forget to subscribe, rate, or
• 17:14
  review. It helps us reach more founders like you, and let's be
• 17:18
  honest, it means a ton to me, my team, and all our incredible
• 17:21
  guests. So keep starting, scaling, and succeeding, and
• 17:25
  I'll see you in the next episode.